Hydrolysis

The scission (or cleavage) of a molecule by reaction with water, with insertion of the elements of water into the final products, is called hydrolysis. An example is the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of ethyl acetate.

This reaction is typical of reversible reactions that do not go to completion. When one mole (the quantity with a weight in grams numerically equal to the molecular weight) of ethyl acetate and one mole of water react, only about one-third of the ethyl acetate is converted to acetic acid and ethyl alcohol. Since the products can also react by a reverse reaction to reform starting materials, the reaction is shown with two single-headed arrows, one pointing to products and the other to starting materials. Several effective methods can be employed to increase the yield of the desired reaction products.